Where In This Whole Galaxy Are You Going To Look For Spock’s Brain?

In 2004 there was a theatrical production of the second worst episode of the original Star Trek series mounted at the Improv in Irvine California.

A victim of third season budget cuts, Spock’s Brain is widely reviled by Trek fans. The cast and writer all agree it’s one of the weakest offerings of the series.

But looked at another way, it’s the perfect distillation of ST:TOS. There’s plenty of Mad Men style sexism on display. The sets and costumes are garishly colored and cheap looking. There is constant dramatic mugging backed by bombastic musical stings. All the principal cast have their acting dials turned up to 11. William Shatner’s flailing around when the miniskirted space babes bust his balls is particularly hilarious.

The incredible part is the sheer number of times the phrase “Spock’s brain” or the word “brain” are used. It’s as if the writer made a bet with someone about how many times he could make the cast mention brains. All the major characters get a crack at it, bringing the total number of uses of “Spock’s brain” to 15, with 19 uses of just the word “brain”.

Youtube user Myko82 has an even more succinct distillation of the episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”.